Obituary: Lt. Col. Walter "Rus" Sanborn

A memorial Mass for Lt. Col. Walter "Russ" Sanborn, 68, a Carson City resident for the past 14 years, will be at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church.

Rosary will be at 12:45 p.m. Saturday at St. Teresa of Avila.

Mr. Sanborn died Nov. 9, 2000, at Carson-Tahoe Hospital. He was born Jan. 4, 1932, in Dubuque, Iowa, to Walter L. and Mildred M. Gaskill Sanborn.

Before moving to Carson City, he lived at Incline Village for nine years, moving there from Anaheim, Calif.

Mr. Sanborn graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Superior Branch in 1954 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. In 1957, he witnessed atomic bomb testing at Camp Desert Rock. After a three-year tour of duty at Tachikawa AB in Japan, he was assigned to Research and Development in the Air Force Space Program.

He took part in the development of the Titan I and II missiles at Cape Canaveral, Fla., from 1960-64. He was part of NASA's Apollo Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratories in Pasadena, Calif., as deputy space flight operations director for Lunar Obiter spacecraft.

His last assignment before retiring in 1975 was with the Air Force Satellite Communications Program Office in Los Angeles where he was Director of Test and Operations.

He served on the Board of Directors of Friends in Service Helping for eight years. He was a prison ministry volunteer for 16 years, serving as a special Eucharistic minister and coordinator for the Catholic Diocese of Reno for the past 11 years. He received the Volunteer of the Year Award in 1991 from the State of Nevada Department of Prisons. He enjoyed gardening and reading.

He was a member of St. Teresa's Catholic Church.

He was preceded in death by his parents and sister Joyce M. Bartlett Oct. 4, 2000.

Among his survivors are his wife Margaret of Carson City; sons Scott W. of Gunnison, Utah, Mark A. of Fullerton, Calif., Bruce E. of Cypress, Calif., and Eric R. of Carson City; daughter Valerie Gomez of Mildenhall, England; brother Robert of Cypress and seven grandchildren.

Cremation will be at Walton's Carson Sierra Crematory.

Inurnment will be at a later date at Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Fernley.

Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 21775, Carson City 89721.

Capitol City Cremation & Burial Society is in charge of arrangements.